Today much is being spoken about corporate social responsibility. As a rule, it is the business community that is speaking about it. However, "social responsibility" is rather a vague notion, and it is often difficult to understand what it means. Sometimes, commercial projects can be advertised as social ones. Sometimes, the government provides business entities with such preferences and beneficiary conditions that they must do something for the society. And they do, trying at the same time to make moral and political capital and presenting it as this very "social responsibility, as a good deed. "Good deeds often remain unnoticed," complain such businessmen. But they forget that it is the state and society that once took a step towards them and helped them enlarge their businesses and increase their capitals.
But in our view, the essence of corporate social responsibility lies not in ostentatious charity, but in concern for employees. What does this mean? This means to do your best to avoid lay-offs at your enterprises, pay decent salaries (that is, share a part of your income), abide by the Labour Code and respect your employees. That is what corporate social responsibility starts with, the author believes.
And that is where Pridnestrovie's large business seems to have problems. Let's take a look at the first point concerning preservation of jobs. As our agency has already reported, Tiraspol's unemployment rate has risen by 1,700 persons in nine months. Several large enterprises in Tiraspol announced massive lay-offs in January-September. Among them are the Litmash plant, where salaries have not been paid for over a year, and two enterprises belonging to the Sheriff holding company - Tirotex and Moldavizolit.
According to statistics, Tirotex has laid off 91 persons this year, Moldavizolit 39 employees, and the Tiraspol winery and distillery Kvint, also part of the Sheriff group, has fired 33 workers. This is only the official tip of the iceberg. In fact, many Moldavizolit employees have long been on unpaid leave, that is, they have not worked and have not been paid salaries as well. This was at a time when the plant management over and over again rejected the government's assistance.
Among those who are laid off are the people who are certain to face difficulties with further employment. It refers to those who are within seven, five or four years of retirement. That is, those who are 48 - 55 years old now. The contemporary market secretly (and sometimes openly) sets age limits of 35-40 years. These limits go counter the Labour Code, but this is another issue. In our case, it is important that they do exist.
The two enterprises of the Sheriff group, Tirotex and Moldavizolit, have laid off over 3,200 employees in the past ten years (from 2005 to June 2015). Tirotex is an absolute record-holder in this respect. According to statistics, the number of employees has decreased by 3,046 employees here as compared to 2015 (from 5,920 to 2,874 persons). I think there is no need to explain what 3,000 persons mean for Tiraspol.
The management and owners seem to be at a loss: crisis, decline in production. It should be noted in this respect that Tirotex used to lay off many employees in relatively "fat" years as well: 617 workers were fired in 2011, and 48 more in 2012. This is firstly.
Secondly, the crisis is the time for business entities to show this very social responsibility. Moreover, the holding company has every opportunity to do this. According to Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper, the Sheriff CEO, Viktor Gushan, is worth $2 billion.
This is an extract from the Russian newspaper: "Viktor Gushan is one of the richest persons in the ex-USSR countries... Last year alone his official (declared) income amounted to 350.8 million PMR roubles ($34 million), and 486.3 million roubles ($44 million) in 2013. Besides, Gushan virtually controls the net profit of the Sheriff company (253.9 million roubles in 2014 and 347.7 million in 2013) and several dozens of other companies. It refers only to the official income, and the Pridnestrovian economy is far less transparent than, say, Belgian and even Russian."
For comparison, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, earned 7.654 million Russian roubles in 2104, or as of January 2015 a bit over $136,000 (according to kremlin.ru). Nothing but that.
The author is not advocating the class struggle and the idea of "taking away and sharing". But judge for yourself: on the one hand, the company's former employees, often middle aged persons, who have been left face to face with their problems, and, on the other hand, the owner, whose private means amount to ten annual budgets of Pridnestrovie. There seems to be something wrong with our country. And what do you think, dear readers?
Dmitry Sitnikov
